Religion is used as tool for personal growth and a feeling of security by people the world over, but at what point does the discussion of those religions become too aggressive and turn into oppression of others views? Everyone had their beliefs, just as we had ours, but I was so young at the time of exposure that that’s all I knew. Church was not only a House of God, it was a place where I built some of my earliest friendships, developed my first individual thoughts about life and it was a place to turn to when life started getting in the way. The latter took me a while to understand, but the point I’m trying to make is, yes, I am a woman of Faith and no, it is none of your business.
When you’re a child, you’re immune to the cruelty and judgement of others, so I never held back about my upbringing in a religious household. My friends knew, I talked to them about it, my classmates knew, and my family made it known. For the most part, I never encountered judgement because of my faith. However, this lasted only until I entered junior high and one of my classmates thought it was okay to shove his opinions about religion in my face. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, of course, and at this point, I understood that, yet I didn’t understand why he was teasing me about my own beliefs.
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Now, as a twenty-year old, I realize that there are some people of faith who also push their beliefs onto others. For the most part, the people I’ve encountered are typically kind souls trying to reach out to others, but of course, there are groups that aren’t so sweet and are overly aggressive (looking at you Westboro Baptist Church). Despite this being the case of some religious people, I was never the type of person to push my beliefs onto others, and tried to go out of my way to avoid talking about it, unless someone were to ask me. Unfortunately, from the time I was twelve till I was a senior in high school, the same guy teased me and mocked me for being Christian, simply because I was one. He’d get in my face and ask me what Bible verses I knew and if I knew such and such story from the Bible. More often than not, I would turn down the conversation, but occasionally it would reach a point where I lashed out. My beliefs were (and still are) mine and mine alone.
As I grew older, I lost my drive and care to attend church with my parents, but that doesn’t mean I lost sight of my beliefs. I’ve told my parents a number of times throughout the years, my faith is mine to put the work into and hold onto, and no one is allowed to push one thing or another onto it. That boy who teased me as I grew up because I consider myself Christian was out of line. Despite our first amendment giving us the right to freedom of speech, we are only allowed to speak freely until we step on the rights of others, such as freedom of religion. Coming to the conclusion that my religion is for me to talk about and to share is based solely on my wish to do so, took me a long time and a good amount of strength.
To this day, I do not understand why others feel the need to poke their noses into another’s business, but I can tell you this—religion and faith is personal and runs deeply through people who believe in it. In a society that’s extremely vocal about who is what type of faith, it’s important to understand that the dynamic of faith has changed in the course of past few centuries. Originally, being a Christian meant spreading the word of God and getting others to believe in Him too, and though that principle is still there, faith is more a part of one’s personal growth. For me, and for a lot of people, faith is about having something to believe in, about a place of immense strength and peace, and about helping me to develop into a better, kinder human being. In that sense, my faith is my ultimate go-to for when I feel lost and out of hope, which is what makes so deeply personal to myself and so many others. No one has the right to shove their belief, or the lack thereof in your face, simply because they disagree. Our beliefs are our own and they are not any of your business.
